Our last occupation in the valley of the Piti river was to make the necessary arrangements for the transport of our baggage through the deserts which were to be traversed before we should again arrive at inhabited tracts. The principal part of our effects were carried by men, but our party was so large that it was not easy to provide porters for the necessary amount of food during a journey of a week in an uninhabited country. A motley group of ponies, asses, and yaks therefore formed part of the train which accompanied us into the desert country between Piti and the Indus.
Three miles north-west of our encamping ground opposite Rangrig, we left the Piti river on the morning of the 5th of September, turning up the valley of a considerable stream which here joined the main river. The platform of alluvium on which we had been travelling continued for about half a mile up the lateral valley, and was covered with large boulders of angular fragments. The rock was limestone, the same as had occurred everywhere since leaving Lara. A little village called Ki, and a large monastery, situated on a curious, seemingly isolated, conical hill above the village, were passed on the right hand. Soon after, the ascent became rapid on a steep ridge to the east of the stream, and the Piti valley was completely shut out from view as we got in among the mountains. The ridge by which we ascended was barren and stony, and produced little vegetation. A curious broad-leaved _Allium_ was the only novelty. We continued to ascend along the stream till we reached the village of Kibar, at which we encamped, at an elevation of 13,800 feet, in a narrow valley surrounded on all sides by lofty mountains.
Kibar is rather a pleasing-looking village, remarkable for its houses being all built of stone, instead of the mud or unburnt brick so commonly used in the valley of Piti. It is situated on the summit of a limestone rock, on the right bank of the stream. Our tents were on a patch of green-sward on the opposite bank, separated from the village by a deep ravine. Crossing this on the morning of the 6th, we ascended the slope of the hill above the village, among cultivation which rose on the hill-side fully 300 feet higher. Except one field of oil-seed, the crops were all barley, which was ripe, and partly cut: it was apparently very poor, being thin and deficient in ear. After leaving the cultivation, we continued to ascend on the ridge, till we attained an elevation of nearly 15,000 feet, at which height the road wound round the sides of hills, without any considerable change of level, for two or three miles. It was still early morning, and the air was very frosty. Every little rill was covered with a thick coating of ice, and some small swamps which we passed were crisp with frost.